Crash Course by John Gordon

CRASH COURSE is the story of three disaffected twenty-somethings and determined terrorist wannabes from Des Moines who intend to carry out a large-scale attack on San Francisco. They know the best day and the most effective method to create massive casualties and a long-term ecological disaster. Only Colin Hennessy, a downtrodden vagabond writer and a small flotilla of aging Coast Guard volunteers led by Jackson Boyd are positioned to thwart the Iowans’ plans. But the odds greatly favor the terrorists in a white-knuckle showdown pitting brute force against courage and guile.